UnExpected

Chapter 62

There was a box waiting for Buffy when she entered her room after the Twins' great escape. It was large and gold with a note attached: Two down. She removed the lid and a wide smile soon spread across her lips. Christmas had in fact come early.

*****

Fred and George had made sure no one would forget them anytime soon.

The swamp that had filled the corridor on the fifth-floor of the east wing was still in the fifth-floor corridor of the east wing, and Umbridge and Filch had been observed trying to remove it but without success. McGonagall or Flitwick could have removed the swamp in an instant, but, just as in the case of Fred and George's Wildfire Whiz-bangs, they seemed to prefer watching Umbridge struggle.

There were two large broom-shaped holes in Umbridge's office door, in which Fred and George's Cleansweeps had smashed through, causing Filch to fit a new door, removing Harry's Firebolt to the dungeons where it was rumored Umbridge had set an armed security troll to guard it. However, her troubles were far from over.

Inspired by Fred and George, a great number of students were now vying for the newly vacant positions of Troublemakers-in-Chief. In spite of the new door, somebody managed to slip a hairy-snouted Niffler into Umbridge's office, which had torn the place apart in search of shiny objects and had even leapt on Umbridge trying to gnaw the rings off her stubby fingers. Dungbombs and Stink Pellets were dropped so frequently in the corridors that it became the new fashion to perform Bubble-Head Charms on oneself before leaving lessons.

It had also become clear just how many Skiving Snackboxes Fred and George had managed to sell before they left. Umbridge only had to enter her classroom for the students assembled there to faint, vomit, develop dangerous fevers or else spout blood from both nostrils. Shrieking with rage and frustration, she attempted to trace the mysterious symptoms to their source, but the students told her stubbornly they were suffering from 'Umbridge–itis'. After putting four successive classes in detention, and failing to discover their secret, she was forced to give up and allow the bleeding, swooning, sweating, and vomiting students to leave her classes in droves.

But not even the users of the Snackboxes could compete with that master of chaos, Peeves, who seemed to have taken Fred's parting words deeply to heart. Cackling madly, he soared through the school, upending tables, bursting out of blackboards, toppling statues and vases; twice he shut Mrs. Norris inside a suit of armor, from which she was rescued, yowling loudly, by the furious caretaker. Peeves smashed lanterns and snuffed out candles, juggled burning torches over the heads of screaming students, caused neatly stacked piles of parchment to topple into fires or out of windows; flooded the second floor when he pulled off all the taps in the bathrooms, dropped a bag of tarantulas in the middle of the Great Hall during breakfast and, whenever he fancied a break, spent hours at a time floating along after Umbridge and blowing loud raspberries every time she spoke.

And none of the staff, but Filch, seemed to be stirring themselves to help her.

"I'm surprised you haven't tried anything," Susie said to Buffy, her eyes unmoving from their hands.

"The only thing I can do now is sit back," she replied, her lips pressing together quickly in concentration.

"Seeing as everybody else has taken it upon themselves to torture Umbridge," Ginny said.

"No reason for Buffy to even lift a finger," Neville added.

"Eeexxaaactlllllyyy," Buffy drawled, her eyes focused and concentrating on her defense.

With every move she made, Susie was right on her tail. She may be smaller, but Susie was also agile, quick and clever to a –

"Gotcha!"